elegaic

She said, "kiss me where it smells funny..."

...so I brought her to Grand Forks! HA!

Home is much like I left it. Roommates were expecting me back in a couple of weeks, so it was cool to surprise them. Halfway-house situation is good-to-great; $5 a day and I can come and go as I please, as long as I show up by 11 to go to bed. The motivation to spend all my uncomfortable-bed hours asleep will hopefully return me to some semblance of a regular schedule.

The jerks at the Bismarck Transition Center, where I was so accurately assessed, threw away two nearly-full bottles of cologne that I had in my toiletry bag without telling me. I could not keep them in my room to use; cologne, after all, contains alcohol, which means someone may brave the horrible taste and likely intense nausea and vomiting to drink it. I was told by the guy that counted all my beautiful things upon my arrival that the bottles would remain safe in storage until my release. The administrative-types felt otherwise, tossing out everyone's good smells without so much as a "hey, maybe you should send this back home." So there goes $100. I found the situation neatly descriptive of my time at BTC as a whole.

some delicious factoids
Of the 59 other people I met during my stay at the state hospital in Jamestown last year, 2 of them have since committed suicide. 4 others were at BTC the same time that I was. I did not learn what happened to anyone else, nor did I particularly care to.

There were 43 people on my floor, and 18 places to sit in the TV room.

One of the staff members, who had been there since my arrival, asked me what my name was... the day before I left.

Between the no-booze, lethargy, and missing meals due to sleeping too much, I lost 16 lbs., returning me to my high-school weight of 175.

I received 10 hours of educational group and 3 hours of individual counseling over the course of 49 days (a sore point, obv)

I read five truly great books (Lila, by Robert M. Pirsig; Oryx & Crake, The Blind Assassin, both by Margaret Atwood; Harrington on Hold 'Em Vol. 2, by Dan Harrington et al.; the first half of Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace) and countless crappy detective novels.

I went disc-golfing once at the Hillside course in Bismarck and shot a -23 course par (-5 pro). I could have done better.

Upon my return, my steriod-drink-raging roommate Travis (story for later, heh) bought one extra-large Papa Murphy's Chicago-style stuffed pizza, of which we each ate two slices... with regret following immediately.

The first thing I did when I entered my home (aside from, of course, cheerful greetings) was seek out the giant bag of fruit snacks. Its approximate size had not changed since I left... and they're still moist and tasty.

...go ahead. Put them in your mouth. Chew them up.

It's good to be home.